NOAA Ship Hi'ialakai sets out on marine debris removal mission
NOAA Ship Hi'ialakai as seen from a small boat in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
Scientists from the Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) of the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) departed April 12, 2016, on a 32-day mission to survey and remove derelict fishing gear and plastic debris from the shorelines of the Papahanʻumokuʻkea Marine National Monument in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The mission includes a 15-day land-based mission at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, and a 17-day ship-based mission aboard NOAA Ship Hiʻialakai (in conjuction with the Protected Species Division's Hawaiian Monk Seal Research Program Field Camp Deployment mission) at Kure Atoll, Pearl and Hermes Atoll, Lisianski Island, Laysan Island, and French Frigate Shoals. (Source: PIFSC)
